On Thursday in the Old Continent, the UEFA Europa League qualifiers for the 2017-18 group stage continue.
In the second stage, Lithuania has two representatives - Marijampole's "Sūduva" and "Trakai". Both clubs have passed the first stage and continue the fight towards their dreams.
"Sūduva" at 19:45 Lithuanian time started the match in Latvia against local team "Liepaja". The team from Suvalkija disappointed the Latvian fans - they defeated the opponents with a score of 2-0 and are close to reaching the third round of the Europa League qualifiers.
The bronze medalists of the Lithuanian championship started the match very actively and in the 18th minute scored the first goal - Ovidijus Verbickas successfully touched the ball near the goal line and scored a goal.
"Liepaja" could not find any antidote to Sūduva's game and in the 75th minute was punished with the second goal. This time the opponents' goal was breached by Karolis Laukžemis.
The second leg match between these teams in Marijampole will take place exactly a week from next Thursday.
In other matches, "Trakai" did not start as successfully as "Sūduva" - the Lithuanian vice-champions lost 1-2 to Swedish representatives "Norrkoping".
In the 32nd minute, Andersson put the Swedes ahead, and they increased their lead after Holmberg's goal in the 61st minute. However, "Trakai" did not break and scored an important away goal - Maxim Maximovas scored with a header.
Results:
"Liepaja" 0 - 2 "Sūduva"
18' [0 - 1] O. Verbickas
75' [0 - 2] K. Laukžemis
"Norrkoping" 2 - 1 "Trakai"
32' [1 - 0] Andersson
61' [2 - 0] K. Holmberg
66' [2 - 1] M. Maksimov
